110 PLINY's ^'ATURAL HISTOIIY. [Book XVIU. 



to employ two, however large the single ones may he. It is the 

 length of them that is of the greatest consequence, and not the 

 thickness : if wide, however, they press the fruit all the better. 

 The ancients used to screw down the press-boards with ropef 

 and leather thongs, worked by levers. Within the last hundrec 

 years the Greek press has been invented, with thick spira 

 grooves running down the"*^ stem. To this stem there an 

 spokes attached, which project like the rays of a star, and bj 

 means of which the stem is made to lift a box filled with stone, 

 — a method that is very highly approved of. It is only witiiii 

 the last two-and-twentj^ years, that a plan has been discovere( 

 of employing smaller press-boards, and a less unwieldy press 

 to effect this, the height has been reduced, and the stem of thi 

 screw placed in the middle, the whole pressure being concen 

 trated upon broad planks ^^ placed over the grapes, which ar. 

 covered also with heavy weights above. 



This is the proper time forgathering fruit; the best momen 

 for doing so is when it has begun to fall through ripeness 

 and not from the effects of the weather. This is the season 

 too, for extracting the lees of wine, and for boiling defrutum :' 

 this last must be done on a night when there is no moon, or i 

 it is a full moon, in the day-time. At other times of the yeai 

 it must be done either before the moon has risen, or after i 

 has set. The grapes employed for this purpose should neve 

 be gathered from a young vine, nor jct from a tree that i 

 groAvn in a marshy spot, nor should any grapes be used bu 

 those that are perfectly ripe : the liquor, too, should never b 

 skimmed with anything but a leaf,^^ for if the vessel shoul 

 happen to be touched with wood, the liquor, it is generall 

 thought, will have a burnt and smoky flavour. 



The proper time for the vintage is between the equinox an 

 the setting of the Vergiliae, a period of forty-four days. It 

 a saying among the growers, that to pitch wine-vessels aftt 

 that day, in consequence of the coldness of the weather, is onl 

 so much time lost. Still, however, I have seen, before nov 

 persons getting in the vintage on the calends of January 



*8 <' l^fali rugis per coclcas buUantibus." The whole of this passage 

 full of difficulties. 



■^^ " Tympiina;" literally, "drums." 



^ Grape juice boiled down to one half; see B. xiv. c. 9, 



51 Virgil mentions this in the Georgics, B i. 295. Of course, it is n. 

 tiling but un absurd superstition. 



*2 First of January. 



